CIF Polls: Charter Oak, South Hills tops in Southeast, Rowland drops to No. 6 behind No. 5 Walnut; Bishop Amat No. 7 in PAC-5; San Dimas, Azusa and Baldwin Park No. 2-4 in Mid-Valley

Yeah I agree about Burbank, they are a definate threat, we played them last year in the playoffs and they were tough and well coached, it looks like they are even better this year.
Bummer about Sante Fe's Flores, with him they beat San Clemente, without him they lose to La Serna, what a difference. Same with Rowland and Michael Ball although with the way we dominated
both lines I think WC wins with or without him but it would have been closer.

I believe Flores is out for the year Dan. It's a shame, he is a senior & made that offense tough to defend.

Burbank, they're good, so don't go to bed thinking there will be an all SGV final.

Looking at the teams in the Southeastern Division I will tell you this. We will be looking at an all SGV final. (and Semi Final if things fall right). I see 4 teams in the SGV that I think are better than the best teams from other areas. How the heck is WC not in the top 10? Infact they should probable be in the top 5. I wouldn't want to be one of those teams tht gets them in the first round of the play-offs. When it's all said and done I think it will be Charter Oak and South Hills in the finals, with Charter Oak taking home the trophy again.

Insider, I was at that Nogales game. You are right about the effort. The competitive part of that game was over after the first quarter. It was clear that Nogales was over matched against Walnut. Walnut also didn't let off the gas until the 4th quarter. I think that was what got them into trouble against Covina. As far as the play-offs go. I had Walnut as a 3rd place team. For them to have made the play-offs, I think that Rowland loss pretty much sealed their fate for the season. I think they will pretty much need a miricle Friday night because South Hills will not be overlooking them and will be ready to go. But hey, they still gotta play the game. Anything can happen.....but when it's all said and done I'm thinking it will be all Huskies. Coach O'Shields has done a great job. It took almost half the season for teams to figure out that the offensive and defensive line play is somewhat suspect in Mustangland. 7-3 is a good building block for next season.

SGV Ouuut!

Condor,
Looks like you guy's have the inside track down there in the Del Rio, any idea weather or not Sante Fe QB Flores will be back for the playoffs? Looks like he makes a difference over there in Chieftan land.

While I agree they should find a better way (using MaxPreps) to rank teams doesn't common sense enter into the fact that Rowland should be above Walnut? Head to head win (without Ball) AND a better record?

SGV FOOTBALL - I think you not understanding those schools that don't play at your level is about the same as Amat folks not understanding you claiming superiority for beating up on your preseason schedule and the ever-weakening Miramonte league.

Stir away, buddy.

Boys and Girls remember I am a CO supporter #1. 2 I never understand how the teams like BP have good records but always get booted 1st round. I never understood how people could be happy with being tied for league or winning league and still get booted out the 1st round of playoffs, and still come on here and toot their horns about that.

Fallin Vike and Custer,

Remember you lost to Bonita buddy, that doesn't classify as a good loss. Then you beat El Monte 35-14, when Arroyo beat them 45-0. You tell me who has a better D and a better offense.

More common opponents:
You said Arroyo barley beat La Canada, Last week La Canada beat San Marino, before that San Marino lost by 2 point to the front runner in the Mid Valley division Monrovia, who slapped San Dimas. Now knowing what you know San Dimas will end up slapping You and Your BP Braves...

P.S I love to stirring the pot on Fred's blog.

Hey Fallin Vike, my team CO might not be D1 but we definitely not D11 and will certainly man handle you guys.

SGV-

How is Arroyo going to baffle anyone's secondary outside the Montview? The only pass plays you guys have is the what? That sideline 4 or 9 route? Whatever it is, its the one where your brilliant coach has the QB throw 40-yd's across the field from the right hash.

Dude, you almost lost to La Canada and squeaked by a horrid Rosemead team....enough said!

no way b.p will crush arroyo

Custer,

Wow, what have I got myself into backing up a mission valley team. Don't worry I'm still sure Arroyo will destroy your secondary and hey whats the big deal its only the a D11 CIF ring. Hopefully BP get a good draw and doesn't have to take on Arroyo first round, then maybe you could get past the first round beating south el monte.

The Mid Valley title will be decided by either Dimas, Monrovia or Paraclete. Nuff said

SGV... We are talking this year please. BP would crush Arroyo. But if you like to bring up the past... Last year as well. Yes they always go to the playoffs.... Mission Valley.

I agree with the last two commeners, CIF should include MaxPreps' computer rankings when making a final determination, Maxpreps considers strength of schedule, CIF does not.

This is Maxpreps' top twenty
1 Bishop Amat (La Puente, CA)
2 Charter Oak (Covina, CA)
3 South Hills (West Covina, CA)
4 West Covina (CA)
5 Glendora
6 Damien (La Verne, CA)
7 Rowland (Rowland Heights, CA)
8 San Dimas (CA)
9 Diamond Ranch (Pomona, CA)
10 Walnut (CA)
11 Baldwin Park
12 Arroyo (El Monte, CA)
13 Bonita (La Verne, CA)
14 Azusa (CA)
15 Los Altos
16 Rosemead
17 La Puente
18 Gladstone
19 Covina
20 Wilson

Dan

You have hit it on the head. These rankings do affect the playoff pairings & CIF does not have a clue! West Co belongs in the top 5 without a doubt & may get there by the end. Cal Preps has the rankings pretty close to what they should be, except for Santa Fe who lost their QB. We will get them this week & need a win. The Del Rio is down & will not be a factor come playoff time I would guess. It's Charter Oak & South Hills in the championship which at least, CIF has correct. West Covina is the wildcard, they could make some noise.

1 Charter Oak
2. Santa Fe
3. South Hills
4. West Covina
5. Burbank
6. Rowland
7. Cal
8. Burroughs
9. Schurr
10.Diamond Ranch

Custer,

When BP gets out of the 1st round of playoffs you can come on here and then sound your horn. A little fact for you. The last decade BP has only been to the playoffs 4 times and missed the rest of the years. I like Arroyo because they are always the top 1 or 2 teams in their league and never miss the playoffs and they always seem to get past that magical round that haunts BP the first round. Remember the last time Arroyo played BP it was a shutout 23-0 Arroyo wins again when you guys play in the playoffs this year.

EASY NOW & SIMPLE MATH,
Your both right, and I like the fact that we are the dark horse. Fact is, Glendora & Ayala played soft non-league schedules & it showed. Chino Hills handed our asses to us, much the same as we handed Glendora's asses to them. Playing Rancho, Amat, & CO tough means something down the stretch. Our schedule is gonna help us down the road & into the playoffs. When the Playoffs start anything can happen. Having a seasoned staff like Gano & his staff is exciting.

Sorry SGV... Arroyo sucks. BP would absolutely crush them. Azusa... who knows??? Pomona would also crush them.

Hey I'm sorry for my lame posting. Congrats Amat on turning your program around I honestly just get tired of the boring posts. I was just spicing it up lookin for the riled up amat bloggers. Amat is havin a great year so stop defending them they have obviously
more than proved their mettle on the field.

If the CIF polls had no affect on a teams playoff path then it would just be an opinion and I would care less how we were ranked, but it does have an effect on a teams playoff path so this system of ranking soley by won loss record shows you how clueless CIF really is. By just doing a little research its not that hard to get a better understanding of which teams are the better teams in a division. These guy's at CIF could at least put a little effort in getting the rankings close, they should consider strength of schedule along with won-loss records to determine how good a team is.
Using CIF's current method is how you end up having two of the better teams in a division play
each other early in the playoffs instead of later like it should be.
Steve R. and SGV Football, CIF still doesn't have it right because West Covina should be in the top 5 with their dominant wins over the then ranked #1 & 2 teams in the division. I'm not guaranteeing its going to end up this way but at this point of the season which of these three has had the more succesful season Rowland, West Covina, Or Walnut?

Their are 100 reasons why Amat will beat Crespi this friday night.
Here's reason #42

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm7DQP3MLUo&feature=fvsr

This is why Crespi cannot run up the score on Bishop Amat!

27-21 Amat

time for me to chime in on this one. First off, how is a team with a worse record (6-2) ranked higher than a team with a better record (7-1) and a win against them? I am not knocking Walnut, but if you are going to have rankings CIF have them make sense. Where is West Covina? Although, like Raideralum said, it doesn't matter because of the playoffs.

Now before I get to Walnut's big game this week let's look at last week. I was very impressed with the way Walnut came out and dominated the game against Nogales. Walnut has a bad history of playing down to their level of competition. I know there was a fear that Walnut would have to slug it out with Nogales like they did last year, but that wasn't a concern last week. This is the way Walnut should have come out against DB, Sonora, and Arroyo. But it's better late than never as they say. Hats off to OShields and his staff for getting the team up and having them not only physically ready, but also mentally ready. They showed who the better squad was and from the onset it was clear Walnut would run away with it, but like I said nice job of the coaches not letting it turn into another Covina game.

As for South Hills, Walnut will need to come out with the same intensity as last week and they will probably need some help from South Hills to have a chance. Can it happen? Yes, that's why you play the game.

Look Walnut will probably miss the playoffs and end up 7-3. Even though the pre-season was easy, they still went out there and won. Plus they brought back the Branding Iron. Could Walnut have beat Rowland? Yes, especially when Ball went down, but it didn't happen. I still stand by my 60% players 40% coaching for Walnut's problems. This year had the potential to be a great season, I thought we would make the playoffs, but it doesn't look like we will.

Hopefully Walnut will show up and make it a great game. I'll be there cheering them on again.

Good post, Easy Now,

Remember people, as Easy Now said, rankings are based on the season, not one game, which is why Damien has not leap-frogged Glendora/Ayala yet, but I would believe they've narrowed the gap. As for the Rowland-Walnut situation, yes, Rowland beat Walnut. But that was when both were No. 1 and 2. Walnut slipped a little bit after that game and a little more after losing to West Covina. Walnut moved up after winning last week, while No. 1 Rowland dropped after losing to West Covina. But it should work itself out after this week, as Walnut faces No. 2 South Hills and Rowland faces unranked Nogales.

Just to be mentioned with some of those teams is pretty darn good! Great Job AzusA, even if they say we don't belong. Montview League ~CHAMPIONS~

AzusA AztecS.

simplemath,
what does math have to do rankings and football you idiot,

Rankings are mentally combative spankings of the psyche...no congrats!

simple Spartan 4 Life...two words SJB and CH...any other questions?

The rankings are a result of your overall record in the season at this point. Your 3-5 overall. You do not deserve to be ranked in the top 10 of your division, based on two good weeks. Relax. Does it really matter anyways? Use your dark horse theory to the max, we'll just see how that plays out.

Could someone please explain to me why Glendora & Ayala are ranked ahead of Damien in the Central? Didn't Damien beat both teams head to head?

Who does these rankings? I never thought Rowland should have been ranked Number 1, but how can the people who do these rankings put them behind Walnut (a team they beat by 20 points?!?!). Where is West Covina? They should be ranked No. 5, since they beat both Walnut and Rowland by almost identical scores. This just goes to show that rankings do not matter.

I don't agree with all of that SGV...Arroyo could probably beat Azusa but I don't see it happening to Baldwin Park.

Finally I think CIF SS got it right, the Southeast looks good, Central is good, Pac 5 is right there the best teams at the top.
My only beef is in the mid valley Arroyo would knock off Azusa or Baldwin park.

Mid Valley top 4

Monrovia
San Dimas
Paraclete
Arroyo